Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Trolley Trekka is run by Pieter Carel Zietsman, a sole proprietor trading as Trolley Trekka in South Africa. He is the responsible party under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) and our registered Information Officer.

This policy explains what personal information we collect, why, who receives it, how long we keep it and what you can do about it. If you live in the EU, the GDPR gives you similar rights, and you can use the same contact.

2. What we collect

Almost everything comes from you. The table lists it by the part of the app it belongs to.

3. Health information and other people's information

Receipts can show medicines and pharmacy items. That is health information, which POPIA treats as special personal information, so we keep it only with your separate consent. You can give it with the optional tick at sign-up, when you save a receipt that has a medicine on it, or with the Health information switch under Your data. It is never ticked for you, and the rest of the app works the same without it.

The app treats a line as a medicine when it is sorted as Medical or counts towards Medical & Health. If you haven't said yes, saving such a receipt asks you to allow it, to save it without the medicine lines (each becomes “Removed item” with its price, and the photo isn't kept), or not to save it. OpenAI (section 6) reads the photo to find the lines, so it sees the receipt before you choose. The app can miss a medicine it didn't recognise; you can correct any line.

Withdrawing. Turning the switch off changes every saved medicine line to “Removed item”, deletes the photos of those receipts, the text we read from them and any email they came from, and deletes product rules you taught that file items as Medical. Your totals and budgets stay the same. This also applies to receipts you shared with your household. Copies in backups are removed as set out in section 8. We record each yes and no, with the date and the wording you saw.

Ordinary groceries aren't health information, so food groups and your Plate Score don't need this consent. We never use any of this to decide anything about you, and we don't share it beyond the providers in section 6.

Receipts, forwarded emails and bank statements can also contain other people's information, for example a partner's name on a statement or a child's school fees. Only upload what you're entitled to share. Don't import someone else's bank statement without their permission, and don't forward emails that are mainly about someone else.

4. Why we use it, and on what basis

AI and automated processing. AI reads your documents and suggests categories, food groups and bank matches. You can see and change every suggestion. We make no decision with legal or similarly significant effect on you by automated means only (POPIA s71).

Marketing. We don't send marketing. Account emails, reminders you set up and budget alerts aren't marketing. If we ever send marketing, we'll ask first and every message will let you unsubscribe.

5. Household sharing

If you join a household, its approved members can see:

• your name and email address;
• receipts you share with the household, with their photos and items (you choose per receipt, and you can keep receipts private);
• bank accounts you choose to share with the household, and their transactions. When you add an account you choose Just me or Share; nothing is chosen for you. Nobody can add an account as yours without your OK;
• household budget lines, and the merchant rules, store aliases and nutrition corrections members teach the app;
• reports built from shared data, such as household spending and Plate Scores.

If you leave, you choose whether your shared receipts stay with the household. Budget lines you created stay with the household. We can't take back anything a member has already downloaded. If the head of the household removes you, your receipts become private to you.

6. Who receives your information

We use these service providers (operators). Each one gets only what it needs for the job listed.

Notifications can appear on your lock screen, so other people with your device may see them. We may also disclose information if the law requires it. We don't sell your information or use it for advertising.

7. Information sent outside South Africa

Most of the providers above are outside South Africa (section 6 shows where). Under POPIA s72 we send information abroad where the provider is bound by an agreement that protects it, and where the transfer is needed to provide the service you asked for. We are working on signed agreements with the providers that don't have one yet.

8. How long we keep it

When you delete your account we remove your stored files first, then your account and its data, and sign you out on your other devices. A photo already open on a household member's screen can still show for up to an hour. Copies may remain in backups for the periods above.

9. How we protect it

• Everything is sent over encrypted connections (HTTPS), and our database provider encrypts stored data.
• Database rules make sure each person sees only their own data and what their household shares with them. Receipt and profile photos are private.
• Passwords are stored only as one-way hashes.
• Secret keys stay on our servers, and only the Information Officer has administrative access.
• We limit how fast requests can be made to slow down abuse.
• On a shared device, sign out when you're done: the app keeps some pages on the device so it works offline.

10. Cookies and storage on your device

We use only what the app needs to work: our sign-in provider keeps you signed in, the app remembers settings such as your theme, and it stores some pages on your device so it can open offline. We use no analytics, tracking or advertising cookies, so there is no cookie banner.

11. Your rights

• See your information (POPIA s23). Settings → Your data → Download your data gives you your account, receipts, items and classifications as a file. For everything else, such as bank lines, budgets, forwarded emails, problem reports or receipt photos, email us and we'll send it.
• Correct it (s24). Change most things directly in the app, or email us.
• Delete it (s24). Delete single receipts and bank lines in the app, or your whole account in Settings → Your data. To delete forwarded emails or anything else, email us.
• Object (s11(3)). You can object to processing based on our legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time.
• Withdraw consent. Delete the receipts concerned or your account, or email us. Withdrawing doesn't affect processing that already happened.
• Complain to the Information Regulator. We'd appreciate the chance to fix it first.

Email privacy@trolley-trekka.co.za for any of these. You don't have to use a particular form, though you may use the Regulator's forms (Form 1 to object, Form 2 to correct or delete). We may ask you to confirm your identity, and we aim to reply within 30 days. Requests for records under the Promotion of Access to Information Act are explained in our PAIA Manual.

12. Children

You must be 18 or older to use Trolley Trekka. If you think someone under 18 has an account, email us and we will delete it. Try not to upload documents that are mainly about a child.

13. If something goes wrong

If there are reasonable grounds to believe that your personal information has been accessed or acquired by an unauthorised person, we will notify the Information Regulator and you as soon as reasonably possible (POPIA s22), tell you what happened and what you can do, and take steps to contain it.

14. Changes to this policy

The date at the top shows the current version. If we make a significant change, we'll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect, and where a change needs your consent we'll ask for it again.